THE FIRST CAMPUS WITH A DIGITAL GARDEN IN ERNAKULAM DISTRICT
As part of the green initiatives of the college a Digital Garden has been Inaugurated on
February 22, 2021. The ceremony presided over by the Hon. Principal Dr. Mathew George was
inaugurated by Prof. (Dr.) A Gangaprasad (Hon. Director, Centre for Biodiversity
Conservation, University of Kerala). Mr. Thomas Antony (Head, Department of Botany)
welcomed the gathering. Vice Principal Dr. Jayamol KV, Governing Council Member and
PTA Secretary- Dr. MS Murali, Sri. Santhosh Kumar VT (Scientist F, Centre for Excellence
on Microservices NIC, Kochi) and Sri. Santhosh T Varghese (IQAC Coordinator) offered
Felicitation. Project coordinator and Assistant Professor of Botany Dr. Jaseela Fathima
proposed vote of thanks.
The concept of QR code enabled digitization of flora and creation of First Digital Garden of
India at Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram is credited to Shri Akhilesh S.V. Nair,
Research Scholar, Department of Botany, University of Kerala, and Dr. A. Gangaprasad,
Professor, Hon. Director, Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, Department of Botany,
University of Kerala.
Background
Digitization of Flora of Maharaja’s College is a project envisaged with inventorying the plants
and trees of the campus and documenting the Floristic Diversity of Maharaja’s College. This
is a project to be implemented in a phased manner.
The first phase comprised of inventorying the tree diversity of the campus and to digitize them
using the QR code enabled labelling and making of a Digital Garden in collaboration with
Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, University of Kerala under the guidance of Prof. (Dr.)
A Gangaprasad (Hon. Director) and Mr. Akhilesh SV Nair (Research Scholar, University of
Kerala). The website for the Digital Garden is Developed by Centre for Excellence on
Microservices NIC, Kochi.
The documentation to include publication of a book on Trees of Maharaja’s College,
Ernakulam.
The major objectives of this project include
1. To inventory the floral diversity of Maharaja’s College
2. To educate the stake holders the importance of the plants and trees by tagging them
with QR Code enabled labels
3. To launch a Digital Garden to provide at everyone’s fingertips information about each
plant and tree in the campus.
This project to be taken forward as a student centric program making them ambassadors for
spreading the message of conserving biodiversity and preservation of nature as part of the
Green Initiatives of the College.
